Connecticut colleges get mixed grades on sex assault prevention

Updated 10:05 am, Friday, January 18, 2013

The state's colleges and universities are aces when it comes to drafting policies on sexual assault, but often struggle for passing grades on educating and training their communities on sexual violence.

The report graded the state's 21 four-year institutions based on how they, as a group, fared in a variety of sexual assault prevention measures.

"The report card is a way for us to take a quick snapshot of what's going on at colleges and universities in a particular point in time," said Anna Doroghazi, a spokeswoman for the group.

More Information

2012 Campus Report Card
Here is the sexual assault report card issued Thursday by the Connecticut Sexual Assault Crisis Services. Grades are based on the percentage of four-year institutions in the state that have enacted a certain measure. The higher the grade, the more schools have the practice in place.
Mandatory sexual assault education for first year students -- B
Mandatory sexual assault education for residential life staff -- A
Sexual assault policies include a definition of sexual assault -- A
Policies include a definition of possible sanctions -- B
Policies include a definition of consent -- A
Role of alcohol is included in definition of consent -- B
Mandatory sexual assault education for student members of Greek life -- F
Mandatory sexual assault training for members of campus safety or campus police -- C
Mandatory sexual assault training for judicial hearing board members -- C
Campus has a campus response team or Sexual Assault Response Team -- C
Mandatory sexual assault training for CRT/SART members -- D
Having a victim services coordinator on campus -- C
Referrals being made to local sexual assault crisis services programs -- A
Interim sanctions that can be implemented before or during the judicial process -- A
Support person available to both parties during the hearing process -- A

Grades are based on the percentage of colleges and universities in Connecticut that have a specific measure in place. For instance, an "A" means that 90 to 100 percent of institutions in the state have implemented a practice; a grade of "F" means only 59 to 50 percent of colleges and universities have enacted a measure.

On the plus side, Connecticut's report card is mostly A's and B's. Most of these high grades pertained to the comprehensiveness of campus sexual assault policies.

According to the report card, most university policies include key components, such as a definition of sexual assault and a definition of possible sanctions. The state's schools also got an A in offering mandatory sexual assault education for residential life staff and a B in offering mandatory sexual assault education for first year students.

But many colleges and universities failed to mandate training of other populations -- including fraternities and sororities. The state's schools got an F in providing mandatory sexual assault education for student members Greek organization.

The state's schools also received one D on the report card, with only 60 to 69 percent of them providing mandatory sexual assault training for Sexual Assault Response Team members. There were a number of C's as well, most of them related to training and response.

This is third such report card the group has done; the others were issued in 1999 and 2007.

Doroghazi said campus sexual assault prevention has improved since the project began, but too many schools still aren't putting enough focus on training and education. She said most education efforts focus on teaching potential victims how to protect themselves. While that's helpful, she'd like to see a greater emphasis on eradicating sexual violence entirely.

"We'd like to see more of a movement toward changing the culture on campuses," Doroghazi said.

Some local schools and sexual assault services said preventing on-campus violence is a key concern for them. The Center for Women and Families of Eastern Fairfield County in Bridgeport has partnered with staff at Sacred Heart, Fairfield University and U.B. on many prevention efforts, said Stephanie Stacy, coordinator of community education and prevention for the center.

For instance, though Sacred Heart doesn't mandate sexual assault training for fraternities and sororities, Stacy said one fraternity, Delta Tau Delta, reached out to the center about providing training to its members. Sacred Heart Dean of Students Larry Wielk confirmed that, and said the school also hosted a sexual assault awareness speaker this fall and mandate certain sectors of the campus population, including the Greeks, to attend.

Other schools saying they've taken steps to prevent campus assaults include the University of Bridgeport. Vice President of University Relations Mary-Jane Foster issued a statement Thursday pointing out the school's partnership with the Center for Women and Families and its own prevention and awareness efforts, including a domestic violence vigil that takes place in fall.

"We take the issue of sexual assault very seriously," Foster said in the statement.

But Stacy said there's always room for improvement.

"We need to send the message that sexual violence is not OK and dating violence is not OK," she said.